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Learning Support News Student and library services Update for academic staff - november 2021

In this edition we examine referencing and shine a spotlight on the Scanning for Teaching service.

A closer look at Referencing

Students often ask what is the point of referencing and we use the following points to show why it is important to have an accurate list of references:

  • Acknowledge the work and ideas of others
  • Demonstrate the body of knowledge on which your work is based
  • Enables the reader to easily locate the sources quoted
  • Avoid accusations of plagiarism

Students are often anxious about the mechanics of referencing which means that inconsistent advice can have a significant impact on their experience and attainment. Hopefully you are all aware that the University’s Student Learning and Experience Committee (SLEC) agreed to use Harvard, specifically the style used in Cite Them Right (Pears and Shields, 2019) as the standard referencing style for courses at Teesside University.

We provide advice based on the latest edition of Cite Them Right via tutorials, workshops and drop-in clinics. There is also a wealth of information available online via the Referencing LibGuide, sections in each Subject LibGuide and the Cite Them Right website. This aims to promote a consistent approach to referencing which is easy for students to navigate. The only variation to this is when a student is on a course where an alternative referencing style is used due to PSRB requirements (OSCOLA for Law and APA for Psychology).

Reference

Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2019) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 11th edn. London: Red Globe Press.

How good is your knowledge of Harvard referencing? Try our quiz below.

Referencing Management Tools

Continuing our feature on resources available from Student and Library Services. This month we are focusing on Reference management tools. These are especially useful for longer pieces of work where you may want to use a larger number of references. They allow you to keep track of the sources of information you have used or want to use for your work. Doing this systematically in an organised way will help you make the most of your time, making it easier to get to your sources and to create your references and bibliographies more effectively and efficiently.

As members of Teesside University you have access to RefWorks or EndNote.

RefWorks is an online tool that allows you to create and manage your own personal database of useful references. You can then use these to quickly compile a bibliography for your reports and papers.

It also allows you to collaborate and share your research with colleagues.

What does it do?

  • You can import references directly from a number of online databases
  • It allows you to organise, store and manage your references
  • It allows you to automatically format your bibliography in a variety of styles
  • It allows you to share your references with colleagues

What the new version offers:

  • a simplified and more intuitive interface
  • an option for auto-completion of references
  • an option to upload and create references from pdf documents
  • tools to read, highlight and add comments and notes to your pdf documents
  • an option to preview your references in the style of your choice with any missing information highlighted
  • a Google Docs Add-in for writing and formatting papers in Google Docs
  • Option to create Projects.

EndNote 20 is the most recent version of EndNote. It is a desktop application that you have to get downloaded onto your PC or laptop. There is an online version (www.myendnoteweb.com) which you synchronise with your desktop version when working away from your PC.

To get EndNote:

For home machines, go to the My University page to get to the download link: My University (tees.ac.uk)

Once you’ve download the software, contact IT Help (ithelp@tees.ac.uk) and someone will remote onto your computer and fill in the licence key.

What does it do?

• Keep all your references and reference-related materials in a searchable personal library.

• Synchronize your references between your online library, and your iPad, through EndNote Sync.

• Share your references with collaborators through EndNote Sync.

• Use your references in word-processing documents to create formatted citations and bibliographies or independent reference lists.

Not sure which product to use?

Your Academic Librarian can advise you further.

Top tip: always check your bibliography, some editing may be required. You still need to have an understanding of the referencing style your School requires.

To find out more about Reference Management see

Scanning for Teaching

Do you use book chapters, journal articles or other print materials for teaching, if so the Scanning for Teaching service, formally known as the Digitisation Service, is here for you.

Scanned and digitised documents are a great resource for students, especially for materials which are heavily used, difficult to access, or essential reading. Only scanned extracts produced by the Library team allow you to share material in line with copyright regulations.

  • Scans are produced under the University’s Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) Licence, which allows the Library team to digitise extracts from books and journals for use on a specific module.
  • We create high quality scans using specialist equipment.
  • We produce searchable, optical character recognition (OCR), pdfs to make the materials accessible for all students.
  • We provide a link you can add to your Reading List, module, or any other learning materials, so students can simply click through to their digitised reading.
  • We ensure scans are provided legally by taking care of all the necessary licence checks and reporting for you.

You can request

  • 10% or one whole chapter of a book
  • 10% or one whole article, from a single issue of a journal
  • 10% or one whole article, from a set of conference proceedings
  • 10% of one short story or poetry anthology or one short story or one poem of not more than 10 pages
  • 10% or one single case, from a published report of judicial proceedings.

You can find more information here including a link to the request form or by emailing SLSResearchSupport@tees.ac.uk.

Workshops in November

Please promote these workshops to your students and remind them that the on campus sessions need to be pre-booked.

For more information see:

Next month - Looking back at the past year, 2021 in review

Quiz answers:

  1. B
  2. There is a missing full stop after the author's initial S and the journal title should be in italics.
  3. C

Congratulations if you got these right!

Credits:

Created with images by misterfarmer - "books antiquariat shelf" • Firmbee - "mockup psd ipad" • TayebMEZAHDIA - "laptop notebook macbook" • StartupStockPhotos - "student typing keyboard"